The Other Side of Coin...!!!!

On the onset of 2011, we have witnessed some of the very unique events happening in and around us. Japan hit with worst ever Tsunami and then threat of nuke leak due to Tsunami & earthquake…a rear combination of natural and man-made calamity. Usually, god has been very generous with us to give us either of them (natural calamity or one occurring out of man-made activities). But this year, he has been adventurous (rather in a sweeping mode) that he put mankind amidst worst calamity which has questioned the existence of this Japanese civilization which has yet not forgot the scars of Nuclear bombing of 1945s.(still current generation have seen effects of the nuclear radiations emitted out of Nuclear attack of USA on Hiroshima & Nagasaki). Well, thanks to our enlightened media that the world was able to see the “Live Telecast” of such a wrath. It has created lot of questions on the ongoing nuclear programs of various countries including ours. There has been sudden uproar among activists in India to oppose the most ambitious Nuclear program in India to fuel the growth & development of the country. Suddenly, many Indians (those who are against Nuke program) forgot the celebrations and applauds being passed on, few years back,  to the Manmohan –led Government for again opening our avenues in the field of commercial use of Nuclear energy for the betterment of human civilization (with minimum detrimental effects being passed on to environment) by converting the 123 Nuclear Deal on the side of India.  Guyzzz….chill out yaar…UPA government has very few good points in their account to capitalize for their next election campaign, 123 Deal being a prominent amongst them. Well,  I would not like to explore more on the debates being carried out across the nation on the hazards of executing the Nuclear Program in India for my lack of understanding of its effect at a macro & micro level.

Well, next event which surfaced up and which we are historic part of is the much awaited ICC Cricket World Cup, 2011. Till date it was quoted many times, that Cricket is the religion of this country. Well, for me its more than the religion. In this country even religion did not have that much power and clout to re-unite the country which has been divided into States, regions, caste, divisions and what not… on the contrary, religion has ever divided this country. But for this, Cricket should be given the credit that we could witness the winds of unity and for the first time Indians came out of their homes to celebrate the victory of their nation. I think, last time this country would have witnessed such a frenzy aura would have been on 15^th August, 1947, when we got freedom. While Dhoni & co. was lifting and smooching the “Golden baby” I am sure all Indians irrespective of the region they belong to, or the religion they would be following, would have experienced the real patriotic energy in their blood. Well here also, cynics had played their power play well….With doubts and questions being raised on such a dramatic World Cup end, that India could beat world’s best 3 teams on their way to successful end of the tournament (Aussie, Pakis & Lankans) whereas they did not portray any such extravagant innings & wins in their Group matches. Also, as I say our “enlightened media” puts this so aptly and convincingly that once thought even emerged in my mind that was it a planned or what… But then I convinced myself saying “Jo bhi hai…..World Cup to apne paas hi aaya naa”. I wonder what would have happened if in our wildest dreams if India would have lost that match. This media would have blasted out on all the players with all illogical allegations of match-fixing and criticizing players for focusing more on advertisements and endorsements and upcomingly IPL….But for their fate, Team India could be spared of such nightmares by shutting the mouth of media by bringing the World Cup and instead received words of appreciation from them…..Well, “Ant bhala to sab bhala”…!!!!!

Lastly, the most significant event being witnessed by us is the war being raised by Shri Anna Hazare a.k.a. "Corruption Crusader" against the Government for passing of the Lokpal Bill in the Parliament and having an independent system to mitigate and prevent corruption further. First of all, Hats off to Shri Anna ji for such a sustained motivation to fight against the system and Government for more than 4 decades. Whoaa…!!!! Our so called leaders & parliamentarians require 42 years to just “Think” that should we introduce the Lokpal bill or not?? (well, I think they must be calculating for such a long period as to what effect this bill would have on their pockets in terms of money valuations since the scams they are in involves lots of zerooos). But salute to this modern day Gandhi that he has been always active and always insisted the Government to introduce the bill inspite of whatever amount of unwillingness & procrastination he has witnessed in the system. The war raised by Anna Hazare in form of a “Satyagraha” has proven to be an eye-opener for this country and also in terms of the power of non-violence. Finally, after 92 hours of fast, Government had to bow down to the demands of Shri Anna Hazare and millions of fellowmen to have a structured draft and pass the Lokpal Bill in the near Future. Again, this was the victory of Democracy in this country. I was watching television news channel which was showing the live coverage of Shri Hazare’s fast at Jantar Mantar for hours together. I could realize the pulse and adrenaline being forced into myself. I could just sensitize myself with what fellow country men would have experienced during the freedom movements years back. Last few days have been like, we are again witnessing a Freedom Movement…with a change that for this time we are not opposing freedom from British but from “Corruption”.  And again, victory was of “Truth”.

Well, there lies a twist here as well. There have been many campaigns in favour of Shri Anna Hazare and “India Against Corruption” for past many days. With few of them being online with the advent of technology. Facebook, Twitter and other blogs have again proved what power social networking has if it is used positively and channelized for right cause. But with this, there are also many campaigns against Shri Anna Hazare and entire campaign against corruption. Those supporting such campaigns are arguing that this is again a novel method of getting fast publicity and emotional space in the hearts of the countrymen.

This is the ultimate LIMIT….!!!!! I mean this is worst we can expect out of any CRITIC. Sometimes I wonder how much we utilize our energies to think negatively and be pessimist. Why for God sake can’t we have optimist outlook that yes this time winds of change would bring good for us. Why can’t we think that yes this time Democracy will have its place in the country with the real power being in the hands of PEOPLE…… WE THE PEOPLE…..For all who believe that Anna Hazare is having his own vested interests & malign intentions, why would an old chap at the age of 72 come out openly and protest against the “Power in Place”. He has already lived his life and has not much to gain in this last lap of journey of life. And that too he is fighting for the country to get a Lokpal Bill and not for his personal benefit that he would be getting. Yes he is getting publicity from across the media. He is the most search out person on GOOGLE for past few days. Yes, he has built up sympathy in the hearts of millions of INDIANS whether staying in India or abroad. But he deserves that as he is fighting on behalf of all those millions who have been always given a deaf ear by the Government (any party be it NDA or UPA). People of this country are now fed up of new ways and new avenues of scams being made by politicians. Bofors Scam…..Telgi scam…..CWG……2G….and what not…Even many of us can expect a scam in 3G allocation….No wonders in that as well…But somebody has to fight and speak against that. And if he is getting sympathy, then I think nothing is wrong in that. Well, time will say how much Shri Anna Hazare has been successful in his “Satyagraha”.

Well, my point of highlighting these 3 prominent events of 2011 was a bit different. In every such major happenings, there have been a role played by CYNICS…Yes…I would call them cynics who are suffering from Fear…Fear of Good…!!!! These are the people who are not able to see anything happening good at mass level or fear that this is not what the truth is as their minds are tuned that in major events at the end there have been detrimental effects. If something good happens at the end, then they are not able to digest it and then just start suspecting and doubting it to the extent that they believe the flip-side to be true. This according to me is the “Other Side of the Coin”….The darker side of coin. Be it a Nuclear disaster in Japan or World Cup win or any other event, there would be a set of cynics always acting against the situation and creating more confusion in common minds. There is so much inflow of Negativity amongst them (people/ organization/etc) that to them everything seems to be going in the hell and if anything ends up being favorable, then their programmed minds (which is programmed such that says that if this happens then it ends up being detrimental) cannot figure out what happened and then cynicism begins.

We need criticism in our society. YES, there should always be a constructive criticism in any system as that improves the performance and enhances the deliverables out of that system. But if this criticism is clubbed with cynicism then that blows the negativity around which is not good for anybody. We should always empower our mind to do risk assessment of any situation. But it should always be done with positive outlook and keeping in mind realistic circumstances. That would enhance the judging of the situation better and we can decide on our own what is good and what is not…!!!

Regards,

Keval Savla